An exhaust system of an internal combustion engine, in particular in a motor vehicle, comprises a plurality of components, including an exhaust-carrying pipe installed in a housing. For example, there are pipes in mufflers that are arranged in a housing of the muffler. It may be necessary to design a wall of the respective pipe to be permeable for airborne sound, e.g., to allow airborne sound to enter an absorption space in which damping of the airborne sound may take place. To this end, the respective pipe may be provided with perforations. Front mufflers in particular are equipped with a perforated pipe surrounded by a housing in the circumferential direction, forming a ring-shaped absorption chamber.
Exhaust systems are exposed to high thermal stresses during operation, in particular during the warm-up phase of an internal combustion engine equipped with an exhaust system. Relatively great temperature differences may occur between an exhaust-carrying pipe on the inside and the housing on the outside. Additionally or alternatively, the pipe and housing may be made of different materials having different thermal expansion coefficients. This may result in extremely different thermal longitudinal stresses on the pipe on the one hand and the housing on the other hand. In order for no critical thermally induced stresses to occur between the pipe and the housing, it is customary to attach the respective pipe to the housing at only one of its end areas, whereas it is mounted on the housing to be displaceable in its longitudinal direction by means of a sliding seat at its other end area. In this way, the pipe may move in its longitudinal direction in relation to the housing, so that thermally induced stress does not occur between the pipe and the housing. However, the manufacturing expense for providing such a sliding seat is relatively great because it is necessary to comply with relatively narrow manufacturing tolerances must be observed in particular. Furthermore, such sliding seats may form a source for offending noise.